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Ibn Taymiyyah On The Need For A Stateby 'Abdul'atheem IslaahiSource: Economic Concepts of Ibn TaimiyahCourtesy Of: Islaam.com

Source: Tibyan.com

Ibn Taimiyah, like most Islamic thinkers regarded the institution of government as indispensable. Describing theneed for a state, he says: It should be noted that to regulate the affairs of people is one of the most important

requirements (wajibat) of the religion (al-din). 1 Really speaking, al-din cannot be established without it. The well-being of the sons of Adam cannot be accomplished except through a well- organized society (ijtima') because they

are in need of one another; and for such a society a ruler is indispensable. 2

He gives two reasons for regarding the state and leadership as a religious duty. First, the saying of the Prophet: 'Ifthree persons set out on a journey, they should appoint one of them their leader.' Citing this hadith, he argues: 'Ifa leader is considered necessary on a journey - a temporary association of a few persons - it is an instruction to

have it in all kinds of greater associations' 3 He further argues that the duty of commanding good and forbiddingevil cannot be completely discharged without power (quwwah) and authority (imarah). The same applies to allreligious duties, like holy war (jihad), justice, establishment of pilgrimage and prayers, helping those who are

wronged and meting out punishment in accordance with the legal penalties (iqamah al -hudud).4 Since all thesetasks cannot be carried on without government and power, the institution of government and state is necessaryfrom the religious point of view.

It is worth mentioning here that, on the same ground, some eminent Muslim scholars of the present age have

strongly advocated the view that political power is a necessary means to enforce Islam fully in personal and sociallife. Al-Mawardi (991-1058), Abu Ya`la al-Farra' (990-1065), al-Ghazali (1031-1111), Ibn Jama'ah (1241-1333)and Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) have all emphasized the need for the state and its religious character. Al-Mawardi,Abu Ya`la and Ibn Khaldun distinguish between two types of government, based on reason ('aqliyah) and thehigher form of government based on revealed law (Shari`ah). The first merely guards against mutual injustice,discord and anarchy, and strives for worldly well-being, while the second provides for the positive enforcement oflaw and justice in mutual confidence and fellowship; above all, it takes into account the well-being of the

community in the Hereafter as well as in this world.5

To Ibn Taimiyah authority is preferable to anarchy. Although he asks Muslims not to obey orders contrary to the

commandments of Allah and forbids them to cooperate with an unjust ruler,6 he does not advocate open rebellion

or encourage overthrowing him. He quotes the saying: 'Sixty years of an unjust imam (ruler) are better than onenight without a sultan.' 7 Al-Ghazali and Ibn Jama'ah also take the view that any effort to depose even a tyrannous

sultan is liable to create chaos and lawlessness.8 Following the Greek philosophers, St. Thomas Aquinas alsoadopts this view, on which William Archibald Dunning has commented: 'In respect to individual action in slayingtyrants, he observes that it is more often bad men than the good that undertake such an enterprise, and that,since bad men find the rule of kings no less burdensome than that of tyrants, the recognition of the right of private

citizens to kill tyrants involves rather more chance of losing a king than of being relieved of a tyrant.'9

Behind the view that an individual should not try to remove an established unjust ruler may have been the bitter

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experience of these thinkers that the newcomer often proved a worse incompetent than the outgoing one.Moreover, the instability and chaos created by the overthrow of the regime always retarded economic growth andprosperity and affected adversely the social and academic institutions. However, it may be that these thinkersfailed to suggest the proper way to get rid of a tyrant.

But this does not mean that for Ibn Taimiyah, as for the European mercantilists 10 of the fifteenth and sixteenthcenturies, the state was the be-all and end-all. As against the attitude of mercantilism in which 'the welfare of the

state was substituted in place of the amelioration of the individual', 11 Ibn Taimiyah emphasizes that thenecessary objective of those in authority (wilayah) is to improve the material and religious conditions of the people

in preparation for the life to come.12 He expresses the need for close co-operation between those in authority and

the people.13 By contrast, mercantilism was essentially amoral, as Hecksher explains: 'The mercantilists wereamoral in a two-fold sense, both in their aims as also in the means for the attainment of their ends. This two-foldamorality arose from their widespread indifference towards mankind, both in its capacity as a reasoning animal,

as also in its attitude towards the eternal.' 14 Mercantilist thinkers like Machiavelli (1469-1527) and Jean Bodin

(1520-96) freed politics from all moral and ethical considerations and held the state accountable to no one. 15

In Ibn Taimiyah's view, the authority exercised by the state is not absolute. It is a trust (amanah) from Allah, and itis to be exercised in accordance with the terms laid down in the Shari`ah. He quotes a hadith of the Prophet,peace be upon him, to support his argument. Abu Dharr, a Companion of the Prophet, reported that he said: 'It(sovereignty) is a trust, and on the day of judgement it will be a thing of sorrow and humiliation except for those

who were deserving of it and did well.' 16 Elsewhere, he observes that 'the government is a religious duty, to seekAllah's favour by fulfilling its obligations with all one's might is one of the noblest of good deeds (afdal a'mal al-salihah)'. He again quotes a hadith that 'to Allah the most beloved of His creatures is a just sovereign (imam 'adil)

and the most hateful is a tyrannical one'. 17

Ibn Taimiyah believes that for appointment to a public office the most suitable person should be chosen ongrounds of relevant competence (quwwah) and integrity (amanah), the two most necessary qualities. However,

since it is not always easy to find a person who possesses both in equal measure, the most essential quality forthe particular office should be determined.18 Erwin Rosenthal comments: 'Ibn Taimiyah is realistic enough tosuggest that ability to fill an office - courage and bravery in a war-leader, judgement and power of enforcement ina judge - is more important than piety and loyalty if nobody can be found who combines all requirements. Insupport he appeals to the Sunnah. Muhammad (upon him be peace) was always guided in the choice of a leaderby the welfare of the ummah as the overriding consideration, even if his subordinates were to surpass him inknowledge and faith. If no one person is available who possesses in himself all the qualities needed for an office

one has to appoint as many as together are endowed with them.' 19 And he goes on to observe: 'This idea isstrongly reminiscent of al-Farabi and goes back ultimately to Plato, as does the idea of men forming an

association to help each other to satisfy their need.' 20 It is strange that Rosenthal should first say that IbnTaimiyah derives his view from the Sunnah and then say the view is reminiscent of al-Farabi who, it is implied, gotit ultimately from Plato, as if the true source of authority for Ibn Taymiyah were Greek. In fact, of course, thatsimilar ideas are found in two different sources is not, without documentary evidence, proof that the later source isderived from the earlier one.

Footnotes:

1. By 'al-din' he means the religion of Islam, which provides not only a unique system of worship and moral

rectitude but also a code of life. No aspect of man's behaviour, including politics and economics, is outside it. back

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2. Ibn Taimiyah, al-Siyasah al-Shar'iyah (Cairo: Dar al-Sha'b, 1971), p. 184. back

3. Ibid., p. 185. back

4. Ibid. back

5. Cf. Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, n.d.), pp. 150-1; cf. Al-Mawardi, Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyah

(Egypt: M. al-Babi, 1973), p. 5.back

6. Ibn Taimiyah, al-Siyasah at-Shar'iyah, op. cit., pp. 16, 61. back

7. Ibid., p. 185.back

8. Cf. Rosenthal, Erwin I. J., Political Thought in Medieval Islam (Cambridge University Press, 1962), p. 44. back

9. Dunning, W. A., A History of Political Theories (Allahabad: Central Book Depot, 1966), p. 200.back

10. Mercantilism developed at the end of the Middle Ages. According to the mercantilist writers it is very important

that the state should be economically strong and powerful, and this can be done only through foreign trade. back

11. Heckscher, Eli F., Mercantilism, trans. by Shapiro. (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1962), Vol. 2, p.

286.back

12. Ibn Taimiyah, Al-Siyasah al-Shar'iyah, op. cit., p. 36.back

13. Ibid., pp. 42, 60.back

14. Heckscher, op. cit., p. 285.back

15. Gray, A. and Thompson, A., The Development of Economic Doctrine (New York: Longman, 1980), p. 56. back

16. Ibn Taimiyah, al-Siyasah al-Shar'iyah, op. cit., p. 22.back

17. Ibn Taimiyah, al-Hisbah, (Dar al-Sha'b, 1976), p. 11. back

18. Cf. Ibn Taimiyah, al-Siyasah al-Shar'iyah, op. cit., pp. 25-33. back

19. Rosenthal, Erwin 1. J., op. cit., p. 54.back

20. Ibid., pp. 54-5.back